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Tag Archives: Faina Goberstein

Although I was not particularly attracted to the sweater on the cover, I discovered “The art of slip-stitch knitting” is really a terrific book.

I like Faina Goberstein and Simona Merchant-Dest, the authors of “The art of slip-stitch knitting.” I have their other book, “The art of seamless knitting,” and it’s very good. But when Interweave sent me their new book, I have to admit the sweater on the cover suggested mosaic knitting to me, and that sort of put me off. I didn’t listen to the addage, “Never judge a book by its cover.”

Well, finally, I got past my adversion to mosaic knitting, which is a technique where you mix colors by knitting some stitches and slipping others in the first row, and in the next row you slip the stitches you knitted in the previous row and with a different color, you knit or purl the stitches you slipped in the last row. Barbara Walker, one of my all-time knitting heroes, popularized this technique in her third Treasury of Knitting, but I was never a big fan.

When I opened “The art of slip-stitch knitting,” I discovered this book is filled with wonderful techniques that I am thrilled to learn about, not just mosaic knitting (which is in there). There’s a wonderful Kromka Hoodie on page 54 with a two-color slip-stitch pattern, and there’s a whole chapter of woven slip-stitch patterns that I think are really cool. I also like the chapter on fancy slip stitches.

You can create a lot of terrific textures with slip-stitch knitting. Earlier this year, I reviewed a couple of books about brioche knitting, which also employs slip-stitching, But ion this book, you will create a lot more than the familiar ribs from brioche. You will find an abundance of twists, mock cables, two-color patterns, traveling stitches and even lace.

I really like this pattern, and I think the fact that the two-color trim involves both knits and purls adds to its appeal.

Going back to my favorite pattern, the Kromka Hoodie, I can say that I love the way Faina has created two-color trim at the wrists, selvedge and plackets with a slip-stitch design. The book says “Using slip-stitch patterns sparingly keeps them from overwhelming the design.” I think that sums up this design perfectly. The design is ageless.

Chapter 3 is filled with designs that build texture by floating a strand of yarn in front of the fabric (in front of the right side.) For those of us who knit Fair Isle stuff, these yarn floats are counter-intuitive, and frankly, I’ve seen some designers do this to modify their traditional Fair-Isle designs and it just looks WRONG. But here, the designers are creating something fresh and beautiful with the technique, and I quite like it. The chapter starts out with many examples of float techniques, with instructions on how to do them. And then you get some great projects to try out the technique.

This is a really cute hat, and the “woven” stitches probably add a bit of extra warmth.

One of the woven-stitch projects is this Spiral Hat, which has a nice slouch to it. I particularly like the Gobelen Bag on page 82, which looks like one of those bohemian bags you can get in a boutique that specializes in Fair Trade imports. I also like the short-sleeved Mak cardigan on page 88, which is short sleeved and has cuffs and a high collar made with a woven slip-stitch pattern. I’d probably use different colors, though. That orangey red in the cuffs is a bit overpowering to me, probably because my favorite color is turquoise, its opposite on the color wheel.

I often take the price of a book, in this case $26.99, and divide it by the number of projects in it, in this case 16, and then I tell you if the book is worth the price. However, there is so much good educational material in “The art of slip-stitch knitting” that I don’t think that’s a fair way to assess this book. Overall, I think it has terrific information and I heartily recommend it. The authors overcame all my resistance and objections.

You can buy “The art of slip-stitch knitting” in all the usual places: local bookstores and yarn shops, the big booksellers online such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and at the Interweave website, where you can find the book in digital and print form. In fact, when I checked Interweave this morning, the book has temporarily been marked down to half price: $13.50. It might make a great holiday gift.

About the author

Pam MacKenzie
Our real estate editor, Pam MacKenzie, expresses her creative side in this blog about knitting. Pam learned to knit at age 6, when her friend’s mother made Pam’s doll a dress, and Pam wanted to make more. Her mother wanted her to learn how to sew in high school, but she was afraid of the sewing machines, cutting fabric the wrong way, and the potential that sewing would have for bringing down her grade-point average. Every year, she managed to find a course conflict to avoid sewing classes. But the day after high school graduation, she took her graduation money to a fabric store, bought a kit to make a sweater, taught herself to read patterns and never looked back. These days, she knits a prayer shawl every month, along with sweaters, tote bags, gift bags and other goodies. She also designs many of her projects. Read More About PamE-mail Pam